Bandage-cutter.



No. 632,177. Paterited Aug. 29, |899.

' S. A. DARRACH.

BANDAGE CUTTER.

(Application filed Oct. 27, 189B.)

WITNESSES: INVENTOR ATTO-R N EYS NTTED STATES PATENT Prien. f

SAMUEL A. DARRACH, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

BAN DAG E-CUTTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 632,177, dated August 29, 1899.

Application filed October 27, 1898. Serial No. 694,731. (No model.)

T0 all whom t may concern.:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL A. DARRACH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented new and useful Improvements in Bandage-Cutters, of which the following is a specification.

By means of this cutter bandages such as plaster or like casts or splints used in surgical work can be readily cut from the patient, and the contour of the person can be followed in such cutting, as set forth in the following specication and claim and illustrated in the annexed drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a face VieW'of the cutter. Fig. 2 is a section along com, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a View of the face opposite to that exposed in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an edge view of the cutter.

The instrument is shown comprising a shoe portion 1 2 3 and what may be conveniently called a supporting member or portion 3 4, having a handle 5. The shoe has a channel 6, (indicated by dotted line in Fig. 1,) which channel receives the cutter-wheel 7 or the teeth of such wheel as the latter is rotated. The shaft S of this Wheel has bearings in cheeks 9, rising from the member 3, and such shaft is rotated by ratchet 10, engaged by pawl 11 on the actuating member 12, having handle 14. This member 12 is made to swing on or about shaft 8. In addition to main cutter 7 there are provided lateral or clearing saws or cutters 15, placed against the sides of wheel 7. By having the outer or bearing portions of shaft 8 made round or circular such shaft can rotate in bearing 9. The cutterengaging or center portion of the shaft being made non-circular and passed through the correspondingly-perforated cutters 7 and 15 the cutters Will be locked or engaged to rot-ate with one another and with shaft S. The member 12 or its handle 14 being oscillated or swung will rotate the cutters by pawl 11 and clearing cutters or saws 15 aid the feed or travel of the instrument and Widen the channel or cut in the bandage to prevent binding.

The teeth of cutter 7 are shown alternately sharpened or beveled, the tooth or edges ct to b and b to a', Fig. 3, being ground or beveled olf at one side, while the tooth or edges a' to b and b to d" are ground or beveled at the opposite side. By this alternate inclination or grinding it has been found that clogging by the lint or material is avoided, as such material has been found to glide olf a wheel 7 constructed as shown.

The channel 6, it is noted, is not cut or extended clear through the shoe. Such channel could be cut through, but a partial channeling leaves the shoe stronger, and the material or bandage is so efliciently cut by the edges, as a to a and 16, that the channel 6 is not choked o-r clogged. As the front 1 of the shoe has to be thin or pointed to readily start in between the bandage and body the shoe should be as strong as possible to avoid breakage.

The member 3 to 4, as also the shoe 1 2 3, is shown curved or rocker-shaped, the member 12 being likewise curved. This curve 3 4 enables the instrument to readily run along or follow the curves or contour of the patientas, for example, in cutting a bandage from a leg and foot the curve 3 4 can rock or pass along from the shin tothe instep without the cutter or shoe losing its engagement with the bandage or interfering with the cutting.

The pawl 11, pivoted to member 12, can be 0f any suitable construction and is shown with actuating-spring 17, suitably constructed and arranged.

The cheeks 9, it is noted, are curved or shaped so as to extend about or beyond the periphery of the Wheel 7 or of its teeth, so that these cheeks act as a guard or housing for the cutter-Wheel. As shown, the cutter 7 is left open .or exposed at the front for the entry of the bandage; but the guard 9 protects the cutter 7 so that accident t0 the operator or to a person cleaning or handling the instrument is not apt to occur.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A cutter-wheel having teeth alternately beveled or sharpened, combined with a shoe having cutting edges on both sides of the wheel and cooperating with the teeth thereof to make a shearing cut substantially as described.

IOO

2. In a bandage-cutter, a cutter-wheel having teeth beveled and sharpened toward their side edges, combined with a fixed shoe having a cutter-receiving channel in the same plane with said Wheel, the edges on each side of the channel being sharpened and cooperating with the cutter-teeth to make ashearing cut.

3. In a bandagecutter, the combination with a shoe and a supporting member therefor, of a pair of parallel cheeks secured to said supporting member and projecting out wardly from said shoe, a rotary cutter mounted between and housed by said cheeks and cooperating with said shoe, and an actuating member for said cutter.

4. In a bandage-cutter, the combination Witnesses.

SAMUEL A. DARRACH. Nlitnesses:

WM. C. HAUFF, E. F. KAsTnNHunER. 

